Gay, married immigrant spared from deportation

A gay Costa Rican immigrant has been spared from deportation by a Houston immigration judge based in large part on his marriage to a U.S. citizen, the immigrant's attorney said.

Judge Richard Walton on Thursday administratively closed the deportation case against David Gonzalez, an accountant who married a U.S. citizen in California in 2008, said John Nechman, his attorney.

Immigrant and gay advocates heralded the case as the first in Texas to end in a reprieve based in large part on a same-sex marriage to a U.S. citizen.

"It's great news," said Steve Ralls, a spokesman for Immigration Equality, which advocates for equality under U.S. immigration law for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. "It's consistent with similar actions we are seeing in other cases with lesbian and gay couples."